Tiger 131 In South Wales

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks David for the progress update.

Vince

[davidwilkins]

Hi Vince,

Thanks for your comment I will try to give a regular update unfortunately the boss has given me another list of job to do but I still hope to put a update every couple of weeks.

I am trying to keep up with your tiger build, you are doing a brilliant job, keep up the good work.

Regards

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi All,

I have been tinkering with the rear mudguards on and off since my last update and I now have the main hinges fixed on and they all line up and work. I have been waiting for some material to arrive and they have just arrived in the post as I am doing this update so hopefully I can now finish the rear mudguards before Xmas.

Regards

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi All,

Finally finished one of the rear mudguards and I am fairly pleased with the end result. However I made a mistake with the other one I had cut out the two areas the wrong way round so I had to make a new one. This one is also missing a few rivets, screws and hinge so another order will be going into Kunpfer in the new year.

The only thing that I would do differently if I was to remake them would be to increase the size of the brass rod that I used for the main hinge, I used 2mm I would increase this to 2.5 or 3mm instead.

Regards

David

[Vince Cutajar]

Great looking mudguards David. How did you do the cut-outs in the main panels? Scroll saw?

Vince

[davidwilkins]

Hi Vince,

Thanks for your comments. As regards the cut outs on the main mudguards I used my milling machine. All cut outs were done before I bent the panel and I used a proxxon 3mm cutter, having DRO on the milling machine made it very easy to do providing that I got my math's right. Once I had my centre point it only takes a couple of minutes to cut out.

Regards

David

[Vince Cutajar]

Thanks David. Good to know. Never tried milling brass sheet before.

Vince

[davidwilkins]

Hi All,

I have finally finished my rear mudguards so I have moved onto other areas of the rear of the tank. All of the changes to these part are just guess work from photos but overall I am pleased with the results.

Regards

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi All,

I have decided to resume work on the Feifel filters particularly over the main engine hatch. After fitting all of the original parts from the kit together and then looking at as many photos that I could of tiger 131 I decided where I was going make the changes. The main changes were to the height of air filter boxes that fit on the engine hatch, these have been lowered by 5mm and moved closer to the turret. I have also made a new large round vent at least I think that is what it is and made it slightly thicker so that it sits level with the rectangular air filter boxes.

I have decided not to use the 3D printed hose pipes as they is no flexibility in these pipes to fit the lowered height of the air filter boxes, I am thinking of using some flexible electrical conduit this will allow me to quickly uncouple from the elbows and lift the rear decking in a matter of seconds. I do like to have quick and full access to interior of my models.

Regards

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi All,

It's been a while since my last update but I am finally getting back to my tiger build although it did not get off to a good start as I have lost a small bag parts, very frustrating and then half way painting some parts my airbrush started playing up.

Now that we are having some better weather I wanted catch up with some painting particularly over the rear deck area and the rear of the tank unfortunately that is now on stop untill I can fix the problem with the airbrush. So I have started to look how I can improve the Feifel air filters, the first improvement that I decided to do was reduce the size of the square flanges on the pipe work from 25mm to 21mm and put some 1.4mm small headed bolts in the corners.

That's all for now back to the workshop to see if I can find out what's wrong with this airbrush it's doing my head in.

Regards

David

[Phil Woollard]

Good to see you posting again David, I will be watching with interest!

[davidwilkins]

Phil, Thanks for your kind words, I have been mega impressed with your Bergepanther build a truly outstanding model and the only one in the world.

Not a great deal to report as my airbrush still does not work so I have invested in a new one which arrived yesterday. This airbrush has the added advantage of a fan nozzle as well as a standard nozzle so hopefully this will make painting the large pieces much easier (I hope).

I have made new brackets to help hold the flexible air pipes down and in position, they are not quite finished as I am waiting for a delivery from kunpfer to finish them off.

I have found it hard getting back to this hobby but hopefully over next month or so will settle down and start enjoying again.

Regards

David

[davidwilkins]

Hi All,

Finally got my original airbrush working so I have painted some of the small parts on the rear of the tank, it now looks to be taking shape. I just need to finish some weld simulations on the engine hatch and then that is ready for painting.

Unfortunately I did have a mishap with one of the exhausts it rolled off the bench and snapped all the studs off the end, very frustrating but have finally repaired it.

I was planning on machining out the 4 large cylinders of the air filters to leave a thin wall so that I could simulate some battle damage but plan A will not work as the inner and outer chucks on the lathe will not grip them so this job is now on hold while I think of a plan B.

I have done my first bit of battle damage to a armortek tank, shrapnel damage to the track side skirts. Very apprehensive about doing this but I think it will look ok when it's painted.

Regards

David

[Vince Cutajar]

Unfortunately I did have a mishap with one of the exhausts it rolled off the bench and snapped all the studs off the end, very frustrating but have finally repaired it.

Same thing nearly happened to me but I was lucky to catch it before it rolled off the table.

Vince

[davidwilkins]

Hi Vince, I wish I was able to catch mine, however I was lucky that I had not yet thread locked the studs in place.

I have finally painted and fitted the engine hatch and the side skirts and it's starting to look like a tiger tank. I have used my new new airbrush for these jobs and I am generally pleased with the results, hopefully with more practise I will improve. I am using a sparmax GP850 airbrush it come with a standard nozzle and a fan nozzle with a width of just over 60mm spray pattern.

I am still working on the air filters but at the moment cannot find a way to put some holes and dents into them, I may have leave them as they are.

Regards

David